Daily Mac App: Camtasia 2

TechSmith's Camtasia for Mac received an update this week to version 2.0, and the improvements made an already good screencasting app even better.

To start with, TechSmith listened to feedback and redesigned the user interface for the editor. It's easier to use now, with less searching for the tools that you need to apply to your screencasts. There's a new blur effect so you can hide private information on a screen, and the app is now anywhere from 40 to 60 percent faster in terms of production time.

I was personally happy to see that you can now export HD-quality files with a Flash wrapper and fallback to HTML5, so even browsers that aren't running Flash can view screencasts produced with Camtasia 2.

Another new favorite for professional screencasters is the ability of the app to let you reuse callouts. It's possible to copy and paste those annotations, which gives multiple projects a more consistent look and feel. If you've ever needed just a few more seconds to explain something during a screencast, there's now an extend frame function that lengthens individual frames of a video so you can add to your narration without worry.

App developers are going to love the new device framing feature. You record video of your app in action using Camtasia 2, and can then add an iPhone, iPad, or MacBook Pro frame around the video. You can see an example of this feature in the sample video below.